1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable communication apparatuses, such as cellular phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), HHPs (hand held phones), and PCS (personal communication service) phones, and more particularly to portable digital communication apparatuses having a first housing which is capable of making sliding and swing movements with respect to a second housing to expose a working portion of the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a “portable communication apparatus” refers to an electronic apparatus which a user can carry with him/her to perform wireless communication with a desired partner. In consideration of portability, designs of such portable communication apparatuses have been developed to emphasize not only compactness, slimness, and lightness, but also multimedia availability, thus having a wider variety of functions. In particular, future portable communication apparatuses are expected to incorporate greater multi-functionality and multi-purpose utilization, and greater compactness and lightness, but also will be modified to be suitable for various multimedia environments or Internet environments. Additionally, such portable communication apparatuses are now commonly used by all kinds of people, including both men and women, young and old, throughout the world, and are recognized by some people as a nearly indispensable commodity which must always be carried.
Conventional portable communication apparatuses may be classified into various types according to their appearance, such as bar-type portable communication apparatuses, flip-type portable communication apparatuses, and folder-type portable communication apparatuses. The bar-type portable communication apparatus has a single housing shaped like a bar. The flip-type portable communication apparatus has a flip which is pivotably mounted to a bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit. The folder-type portable communication apparatus has a folder coupled to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge unit in such a manner that the folder can be rotated in order to be folded to or unfolded from the housing.
Further, portable communication apparatuses may be classified into neck wearable type communication apparatuses and wrist wearable type communication apparatuses according to the position at or the way in which a user puts on the communication apparatus. The neck wearable type communication apparatus is one which a user wears around the neck using a string, while the wrist wearable type communication apparatus is one which a user wears around the wrist.
Additionally, portable communication apparatuses may be classified into rotation-type communication apparatuses and sliding-type communication apparatuses according to ways of opening and closing the communication apparatuses. In the rotation-type portable communication apparatus, two housings are coupled to each other in such a manner that one housing rotates to be opened or closed relative to the other while the housings face each other. In the sliding-type portable communication apparatus, two housings are coupled to each other in a manner that one housing slides to be opened or closed relative to the other. These variously classified portable communication apparatuses can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.
Conventional portable communication apparatuses are now capable of transmitting data at a high speed in addition to the basic function of performing voice communication. In other words, according to increasing demand by consumers, portable communication apparatuses now provide a service using a wireless communication technology capable of transmitting data at a high speed.
Recently developed portable communication apparatuses are now equipped with a camera lens which enables each of the communication apparatuses to transmit an image signal. That is, current conventional portable communication apparatuses may have an imbedded or external camera lens or a photographing means which enables a user to transmit an image to a desired partner or to take a photograph of a desired subject.
However, conventional portable communication apparatuses, in particular sliding-type portable communication apparatuses such as that disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 2002-71911 (the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference) filed in the name of the present applicant, are constructed in such a way that when they are used in an e-mail transmission mode, in a chatting mode, or in a PDA mode, their key operations are inconvenient. This is because they have relatively small number of keys and thus make it difficult to perform complex data input operations.
In addition, the sliding-type portable communication apparatuses as mentioned above often require that their numeric keys and character keys be used in combination. In addition, their screens or display devices mounted thereon are narrow and thus sometimes are difficult to view. Their display devices, which are mounted on their sliding housings, have a vertical size relatively larger than their horizontal size, thus limiting their effective normal usage.